As the world starts seeing green shoots of recovery amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the event industry is also waiting with bated breath to host physical events and enable face-to-face, in-person connections. But as several countries continue to grapple with a second wave of the pandemic, it seems like organisations might have to wait a bit longer to fully dive back into in-person events. This predicament has led to event organisers dabbling with a new type of event – the hybrid event. With this new event format, organisers are able to give local attendees the option to travel to the venue and attend the event in person, while providing outstation delegates the option to attend the event virtually.
At Cvent too, we are seeing the trend move towards the hybrid model in the APAC and MEA regions. In fact, as per our Event Industry Trend Report, almost 85% of respondents stated hybrid events to be the immediate future of the industry. But the biggest concern right now is that almost 60% of these very same respondents - who comprise planners, marketers and other event professionals – do not seem to be ready for hybrid events. Either they are still in the process of finalising their event strategy or don’t have the required technology/resources to execute one. The pandemic has given rise to so much uncertainty that companies are not ready to put their money on an event format that they have never done before. But what they don’t realise is that every day of their inaction gives their competitors a head start, and when the market recovers, they’ll be the ones left far behind. More businesses will be disrupted post-pandemic, than right now. And the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen is through a focussed approach towards a future strategy.
You need to convey a message of positivity and support to your customers during these challenging times so that they are left with a positive impression of your brand on their minds, which will stick out more in contrast to all the negativity seen in the news globally. You are bound to gain a lot more than mindshare. Hybrid events might still be a few months away, but virtual events are sweeping through the industry right now. As per our Industry Trend report, event organisers have already started reaping benefits from virtual events, such as
- Increased attendance (as compared to in-person events)
- Increased attendee engagement with content
- Lower event cost and carbon footprint
A few them have also seen an increase in sponsorship value. These are more than enough reasons to jump on the virtual/hybrid bandwagon to make sure that you are not left behind. It is worth to be noted that the organisers who are reaping the most benefits are the ones who have adopted certain best practices for virtual events. If you don’t know them already, click here.
It’s understandable if some businesses are finding it tricky switching to a new event model. Because one wrong move can make a huge dent in their already depleted revenue stream and you’re left in no better position on the ROI front too. So just remember to avoid these top three pitfalls while transitioning to virtual events:
- Using same approach to engage in-person and virtual attendees
- Virtual audience not being engaged enough (so better offer top-notch content!)
- Not giving importance to different time zones, event length, session length
Engaging virtual attendees is a challenge for everyone, experienced and novice planners alike, so we asked them what they felt are the top drivers for engagement at virtual events. As expected, having engaging content emerged as the top priority, with a great live streaming and web conferencing platform coming a close second.
We understand that people are still confused which platform to use for which kind of event, and that’s the reason the experts at Cvent came up with the free virtual and hybrid events training module to educate you on everything about virtual and hybrid events including which platforms to host them on.
While we gained some valuable insights about the changing industry landscape, we couldn’t resist checking the pulse of the industry on when they expected in-person events to return. And not entirely to our surprise, more than 60% of respondents felt that it would only come back in 2021, and not before that. But as I said in the beginning, we are all yearning for human interaction right now, so when physical events do come back, we’ll probably see it received with more gusto. In the meantime, don’t lament but plan ahead and make sure that your future event strategy is a fighting success rather than a planning failure.
This blog has been written by Suryabir Singh, Regional Marketing Leader (India & MEA) at Cvent.
